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Blue Tide Rising
“Somewhere in me a scream is rising, but I contain it. Just.” Diazepam-fogged Amy isn’t the best person to investigate an unexplained death, but she’s the only one Jay can get through to. On the run from her troubled past and controlling older (ex) lover, she winds up on a Welsh eco farm where she starts to rebuild her life, grounded by the earth and healed by the salt air. But it isn’t just her inner self that she manages to uncover. There are living ghosts at Môr Tawel, and they’re as loud as the waters crashing over the shingle on the beach. Amy’s new life has just started, and she’s already running out of time.
- GenresFiction
418 pages, Paperback
Published March 15, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
May 25, 2020
Book Reviewed on www.whisperingstories.com
Clare Stevens’ novel Blue Tide Rising starts with the young female protagonist Amy walking down Belmoral Street in a slum section of Manchester, England. Amy was forced into the slums after the miscarriage of her baby. Most of her days were spent in a stupor from alcohol or the drug diazepam for her anxiety. She only left her attic flat occasionally to get a free welfare meal.
In the middle of one night she awakes under the influence of the diazepam and there is a beautiful man in her room named Jay. The way he talks to her leads her to believe that he is a social worker. Over the next few months she sometimes wakes up in a drug stupor in the middle of the night to find him in her room. He gets her talking about her life and how it all went sour, and then coaches her how to find her real self again.
The novel then goes into Amy Blue’s backstory and how her life fell apart. When her life moves forward, the plot turns more pleasant, eerie, and mysterious all at the same time. I don’t want to give too much away. After I finished the novel, the Covid-19 virus was at its worst in my area of America and I got waylaid from writing this book review. I reread the key scenes in the novel and thoroughly enjoyed reading them again before writing this review.
The plot was excellently crafted, and the novel was expertly edited. It expressed tension, uncertainty; and feelings of inadequacy, triumph, and mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed it—twice. I do highly recommend it for romantic, paranormal, and mystery novel enthusiasts.
Clare Stevens’ novel Blue Tide Rising starts with the young female protagonist Amy walking down Belmoral Street in a slum section of Manchester, England. Amy was forced into the slums after the miscarriage of her baby. Most of her days were spent in a stupor from alcohol or the drug diazepam for her anxiety. She only left her attic flat occasionally to get a free welfare meal.
In the middle of one night she awakes under the influence of the diazepam and there is a beautiful man in her room named Jay. The way he talks to her leads her to believe that he is a social worker. Over the next few months she sometimes wakes up in a drug stupor in the middle of the night to find him in her room. He gets her talking about her life and how it all went sour, and then coaches her how to find her real self again.
The novel then goes into Amy Blue’s backstory and how her life fell apart. When her life moves forward, the plot turns more pleasant, eerie, and mysterious all at the same time. I don’t want to give too much away. After I finished the novel, the Covid-19 virus was at its worst in my area of America and I got waylaid from writing this book review. I reread the key scenes in the novel and thoroughly enjoyed reading them again before writing this review.
The plot was excellently crafted, and the novel was expertly edited. It expressed tension, uncertainty; and feelings of inadequacy, triumph, and mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed it—twice. I do highly recommend it for romantic, paranormal, and mystery novel enthusiasts.
August 7, 2022
I read the paperback of this book, a gift from a friend a while ago now. It’s been waiting on a pile for me to get to it and I’m so pleased I did.
Amy Blue is a diazepam-fogged young woman struggling with life as she exists in a grotty flat in Balmoral Street, which is nowhere near as grand as it sounds. A young man, Jay, starts to visit and begins to guide her towards improving her life.
Under his advice she leaves the city and ends up on a Welsh eco farm. It is here that she starts to heal and rebuild her life. Finding a family that accepts her at last Amy is happy until Jay appears again urging her to investigate and solve a wrongful death.
The mystery part of this novel only really happens towards the end but that didn’t prevent the pages from turning to get to it. Stevens has created wonderful characters in this story and Amy is the most compelling. The mistakes she’s made in the past, the way she’s been used, and abused, are fully explored here and her thoughts and reactions to what happened and happens to her so honest and real it makes this a terrific read.
The writing is excellent to and flows so well you want to keep coming back time and again to sink back into the story. A super debut novel and I hope there will be more from this author.
Amy Blue is a diazepam-fogged young woman struggling with life as she exists in a grotty flat in Balmoral Street, which is nowhere near as grand as it sounds. A young man, Jay, starts to visit and begins to guide her towards improving her life.
Under his advice she leaves the city and ends up on a Welsh eco farm. It is here that she starts to heal and rebuild her life. Finding a family that accepts her at last Amy is happy until Jay appears again urging her to investigate and solve a wrongful death.
The mystery part of this novel only really happens towards the end but that didn’t prevent the pages from turning to get to it. Stevens has created wonderful characters in this story and Amy is the most compelling. The mistakes she’s made in the past, the way she’s been used, and abused, are fully explored here and her thoughts and reactions to what happened and happens to her so honest and real it makes this a terrific read.
The writing is excellent to and flows so well you want to keep coming back time and again to sink back into the story. A super debut novel and I hope there will be more from this author.
September 25, 2025
A book about resilience in a world where so many use their positions of power to abuse others. Great read! Very dark, though, be warned!
April 28, 2019
I really enjoyed this, Clare Stevens’ first novel. It’s a gripping mystery which, as GCSE lit candidates say, always “makes you want to read on”, with some unexpected twists and turns. What I particularly liked was the deft creation of character and place, particularly the run-down area of Manchester where the story starts, and rural North Wales, where it ends. Both the people and the landscapes they inhabit are very convincingly presented. I am not usually one for magical or supernatural elements; it’s testimony to Stevens’ story-telling abilities that here they enhanced my enjoyment rather than otherwise. Recommended!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 4, 2019
This novel encompasses everything I love reading in a story: sense of place, strong characters, a compelling story and a thread of magical realism.
I identified strongly with the character of Amy Blue, and, like her, I wanted to become absorbed into the Lloyd family. My heart ached for Jay and his twin sister, and I was happy when Adam came onto the scene.
The writing of landscape and seascape is tangible. An all-engrossing novel that I had to keep reading until it was finished, and now feel somewhat bereft at having to leave Môr Tawel behind.
An excellent debut from Clare Stevens.
I identified strongly with the character of Amy Blue, and, like her, I wanted to become absorbed into the Lloyd family. My heart ached for Jay and his twin sister, and I was happy when Adam came onto the scene.
The writing of landscape and seascape is tangible. An all-engrossing novel that I had to keep reading until it was finished, and now feel somewhat bereft at having to leave Môr Tawel behind.
An excellent debut from Clare Stevens.
May 10, 2020
I really enjoyed this novel and I finished it with a tear in my eye, which says everything about how involved it made me feel. There’s a massive truth enshrined here, about the best way out of victimhood being to help other victims, and the narrator, Amy, whom we meet in the pit of despair is a lovely character. The narrative presents her growth out of neglect and abuse towards healthy self-assertion very subtly, and the reader easily identifies with her present tense narrative. And that basically makes it a great page-turner: you enjoy being in Amy’s company and you want things to turn out well for her and for her quest to help another. The dialogue is good and convincingly idiomatic, which pushes the story forward energetically and reveals character, so there’s no need for a lot of description or analysis. There are loads of really great vivid scenes. I particularly enjoyed the way the writer brings Amy back, towards the end of the story, to the once grotty Manchester flat, the scene of her initial dereliction, satisfyingly coming full circle, but also mirroring the new life that she has come to on Anglesey. The final denouement at South Stack is exciting, and, from a writing point of view, brilliantly engineered.
Criticisms? I felt it was possibly a bit too long, or rather I felt the tension slackening a little too much in places. I sometimes didn’t feel the depth of jeopardy/misery for the characters that I was supposed to. The range of what might ultimately be revealed began to narrow well before the end, and to a certain extent I was not so much concerned about what that might be as about how the writer was going to ‘work’ it. As soon as Amy sees the eventual baddie, I knew he/she (not to spoil it for anyone) would be implicated in the end! But, having said that, I really enjoyed the way this character is gradually worked in. I think I would have appreciated more about the actual experience of dealing with the aftermath of child abuse rather than the slightly drawn-out pursuit of the truth about a suicide, but that’s just my particular interest.
I thought the book was very nicely produced: lovely cover and well-designed pages.
This is an entertaining, sensitive and thought-provoking novel. Painful issues are dealt with, but it’s never less than an enjoyable read.
Criticisms? I felt it was possibly a bit too long, or rather I felt the tension slackening a little too much in places. I sometimes didn’t feel the depth of jeopardy/misery for the characters that I was supposed to. The range of what might ultimately be revealed began to narrow well before the end, and to a certain extent I was not so much concerned about what that might be as about how the writer was going to ‘work’ it. As soon as Amy sees the eventual baddie, I knew he/she (not to spoil it for anyone) would be implicated in the end! But, having said that, I really enjoyed the way this character is gradually worked in. I think I would have appreciated more about the actual experience of dealing with the aftermath of child abuse rather than the slightly drawn-out pursuit of the truth about a suicide, but that’s just my particular interest.
I thought the book was very nicely produced: lovely cover and well-designed pages.
This is an entertaining, sensitive and thought-provoking novel. Painful issues are dealt with, but it’s never less than an enjoyable read.
May 25, 2022
The narrator-protagonist of Clare Stevens's Blue Tide Rising, Amy Blue, is a young woman with a damaged past and, when the story opens in a Manchester slum, a damaged present. Ms Stevens gives us a vivid picture of that environment - squalid, hopeless, potentially dangerous, but with residents showing a measure of care for each other - and she portrays Amy's appalling mental condition. Then, into Amy's drug-impaired consciousness, steps a mysterious young man who comes and goes inexplicably and knows far more about her than anyone ought. This visitor elicits her back-story and launches her into a prospective new life on a seaside farm, Môr Tawel, in Anglesea, home of the tragedy-afflicted and partially fragmented Lloyd family.
As Amy becomes increasingly absorbed into her farming, gardening and camp-supervising work at Môr Tawel and into the Lloyd family, she starts to come to terms with her own distressing past and begins to heal mentally. A significant part of this positive development comes from her burgeoning but initially secret relationship with the Lloyds' mostly-absent son, Adam. But there's a price to pay: the guardian spirit whose influence took her from slum to farm, hopelessness to hope, wants her to do something in return: to discover the truth about a death years earlier that was a major part of the Lloyds' tragedy.
Blue Tide Rising is a highly readable, original and well-constructed story with a sympathetic protagonist and a pleasing blending of genres (romance, ghost story, crime story...), unusually accomplished for a debut novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it. My negative comments are minor: perhaps it could have been trimmed a little - it's quite a long book - and although Ms Stevens proved herself accomplished in building up tension, she often allowed it to dissipate too rapidly, so the reader doesn't have a prolonged edge-of-the-seat experience.
That's nit-picking. Let's just say that if I see another novel by Clare Stevens, I'll want to read it.
As Amy becomes increasingly absorbed into her farming, gardening and camp-supervising work at Môr Tawel and into the Lloyd family, she starts to come to terms with her own distressing past and begins to heal mentally. A significant part of this positive development comes from her burgeoning but initially secret relationship with the Lloyds' mostly-absent son, Adam. But there's a price to pay: the guardian spirit whose influence took her from slum to farm, hopelessness to hope, wants her to do something in return: to discover the truth about a death years earlier that was a major part of the Lloyds' tragedy.
Blue Tide Rising is a highly readable, original and well-constructed story with a sympathetic protagonist and a pleasing blending of genres (romance, ghost story, crime story...), unusually accomplished for a debut novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it. My negative comments are minor: perhaps it could have been trimmed a little - it's quite a long book - and although Ms Stevens proved herself accomplished in building up tension, she often allowed it to dissipate too rapidly, so the reader doesn't have a prolonged edge-of-the-seat experience.
That's nit-picking. Let's just say that if I see another novel by Clare Stevens, I'll want to read it.
April 9, 2019
Unemployed and probably unemployable, Amy Blue lives alone in a grotty part of Manchester, domain of boarded-up pubs and payday loan shops and people her social worker describes as ‘hard to reach’ and she finds hard to avoid. When Jay penetrates her diazepam haze to appear in her bedsit, she assumes he’s part of a psychiatric befriending service, although he’s more pushy than she might expect.
Gradually, the relationship develops: she tells him how she got to this point while he sets her tasks to get her out of it, small steps towards engaging with the world. Amy certainly hasn’t had it easy: orphaned at ten, she’s palmed off on an aunt she barely knows and has a low opinion of her parents. But she makes friends at school, and is almost another member of Hannah’s family, too young to recognise the dad is grooming her. He holds back till she’s legal; when the “affair” comes to light it’s Amy who is ostracised and forced to move away. More abuse, neglect and loss follow, until she tries to take her own life.
When Jay sends her to North Wales, with instructions not to mention him, Amy is unsure. But, immediately welcomed by the owners of the coastal eco-farm, she begins to mend. She feeds the chickens, weeds the vegetables, is lulled by the sound of the sea. But, although Tom and Rita are warm-hearted, they too have their pain. A child’s death, and then her twin brother a decade later; Rita’s refusal to accept the latter as suicide has ruptured the relationship with their other son, Adam, who rarely comes home. But Amy is able to heal that rift, until Jay turns up again with a strange request, as payback for how he’s helped her.
Review continues Journeys of personal discovery: Blue Tide Rising & Island Song https://annegoodwin.weebly.com/1/post...
Gradually, the relationship develops: she tells him how she got to this point while he sets her tasks to get her out of it, small steps towards engaging with the world. Amy certainly hasn’t had it easy: orphaned at ten, she’s palmed off on an aunt she barely knows and has a low opinion of her parents. But she makes friends at school, and is almost another member of Hannah’s family, too young to recognise the dad is grooming her. He holds back till she’s legal; when the “affair” comes to light it’s Amy who is ostracised and forced to move away. More abuse, neglect and loss follow, until she tries to take her own life.
When Jay sends her to North Wales, with instructions not to mention him, Amy is unsure. But, immediately welcomed by the owners of the coastal eco-farm, she begins to mend. She feeds the chickens, weeds the vegetables, is lulled by the sound of the sea. But, although Tom and Rita are warm-hearted, they too have their pain. A child’s death, and then her twin brother a decade later; Rita’s refusal to accept the latter as suicide has ruptured the relationship with their other son, Adam, who rarely comes home. But Amy is able to heal that rift, until Jay turns up again with a strange request, as payback for how he’s helped her.
Review continues Journeys of personal discovery: Blue Tide Rising & Island Song https://annegoodwin.weebly.com/1/post...
May 30, 2021
Depressed, anxious and dependent on Diazepam, Amy Blue lives in a run-down apartment in a poverty-stricken street in central Manchester. Her life feels desperate. She is lost, hiding from her painful past and unable to move forward to any kind of meaningful future. Until that is, Amy meets Jay. Jay, a kind yet pushy artist Amy assumes to be from her social worker's befriending service. As their friendship grows, Amy begins to share with Jay her past to start untangling her trauma.
To encourage Amy out of her depression, Jay sets Amy tasks to complete, eventually sending her to North Wales with strict instructions to not mention him. Although hesitant, Amy does what she is asked of her and leaves Manchester for the Welsh countryside. Once there finds herself on a journey of discovery both for herself and for Jay.
Blue Tide Rising is a story of growth wrapped inside a magical realist mystery novel. Stevens description of Môr Tawel is beautiful; her words transport you right there with her. Throughout this story, I imagined myself being there in Wales by the sea, living a simple wholesome life away from my traumas and fears.
Blue Tide Rising explores sensitive themes such as mental illness, suicide, and child abuse with compassion. Its paranormal elements give a fresh perspective to the story instead of distracting from the subject and themes. The characters are rich and multidimensional, leaving you wanting to know more about the circumstances that lead to each of their lives. This is a debut novel that is ideal for fans of the magical realism genre.
www.penspencilsandbook.co.uk
To encourage Amy out of her depression, Jay sets Amy tasks to complete, eventually sending her to North Wales with strict instructions to not mention him. Although hesitant, Amy does what she is asked of her and leaves Manchester for the Welsh countryside. Once there finds herself on a journey of discovery both for herself and for Jay.
Blue Tide Rising is a story of growth wrapped inside a magical realist mystery novel. Stevens description of Môr Tawel is beautiful; her words transport you right there with her. Throughout this story, I imagined myself being there in Wales by the sea, living a simple wholesome life away from my traumas and fears.
Blue Tide Rising explores sensitive themes such as mental illness, suicide, and child abuse with compassion. Its paranormal elements give a fresh perspective to the story instead of distracting from the subject and themes. The characters are rich and multidimensional, leaving you wanting to know more about the circumstances that lead to each of their lives. This is a debut novel that is ideal for fans of the magical realism genre.
www.penspencilsandbook.co.uk
August 25, 2019
Amy Blue is not in a good place! She doesn't look like she's getting out of it either! An orphan, neglected by her aunt, then ostracised by practically everyone she knew, it's no wonder she is where she us. Amy starts to receive visits from someone who encourages her to get up and move on.
I figured out who Jay was, but not what he was. Amy has suffered at the hands of a number of people and getting her life back was going to take a fair bit. Jay starts things off and then, when she is nearly there, comes back to make his ask!
For someone who has had such a lonely time Amy does very well. A strong person under a vulnerable exterior.
I liked the characters in this story, I was able to relate to them in some ways. Amy was very real as was Jay and the rest of the cast. Once she got to Môr Tawel, I felt that she was in the right place and was fretful about what could drive her away. The story took a sinister tone and I needed to know that Amy was OK, so I read through into the night to finish it.
Môr Tawel sounds such a lovely place, we need more places like that in the world.
I received a free copy of this novel from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I figured out who Jay was, but not what he was. Amy has suffered at the hands of a number of people and getting her life back was going to take a fair bit. Jay starts things off and then, when she is nearly there, comes back to make his ask!
For someone who has had such a lonely time Amy does very well. A strong person under a vulnerable exterior.
I liked the characters in this story, I was able to relate to them in some ways. Amy was very real as was Jay and the rest of the cast. Once she got to Môr Tawel, I felt that she was in the right place and was fretful about what could drive her away. The story took a sinister tone and I needed to know that Amy was OK, so I read through into the night to finish it.
Môr Tawel sounds such a lovely place, we need more places like that in the world.
"“You stupid, stupid girl. You’ve broken up a family. You’ve lost your job and your friends and you’ve brought disgrace on me"
I received a free copy of this novel from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.
November 7, 2019
I love this novel! I loved everything about it, in fact: beautifully written, it captured me within a few pages, and I couldn’t put it down. I found myself quickly bonded to the main character, Amy Blue, and her difficult life, agog to hear more about her encounters with the mysterious, beautiful man, who appears unexpectedly and is trying to help her get out of her physical and mental misery.
The characters Amy, Jay and the rest, and their challenges are very interesting, clearly depicted and enthralling. The characters who are ghosts are cleverly and realistically woven into the story. The themes covered were extensive, including drug addiction, sexual abuse, loneliness, loss, and family disfunction.
The dialogues are natural and true to the ear. The plot is strongly built.
I really enjoyed the settings as well. The sense of place is palpable and the British scenes range from Manchester, to Derbyshire, to Nottingham, to an organic Welsh coast farm. There were excellent renderings from the gritty, impoverished street scene in the first part, to affluent households, to the idyllic, yet curious farm, which seems a bit of paradise on earth. (I want to visit this lovely place!)
A wonderful first novel. Please write the next, Clare Stevens. I’m waiting!
The characters Amy, Jay and the rest, and their challenges are very interesting, clearly depicted and enthralling. The characters who are ghosts are cleverly and realistically woven into the story. The themes covered were extensive, including drug addiction, sexual abuse, loneliness, loss, and family disfunction.
The dialogues are natural and true to the ear. The plot is strongly built.
I really enjoyed the settings as well. The sense of place is palpable and the British scenes range from Manchester, to Derbyshire, to Nottingham, to an organic Welsh coast farm. There were excellent renderings from the gritty, impoverished street scene in the first part, to affluent households, to the idyllic, yet curious farm, which seems a bit of paradise on earth. (I want to visit this lovely place!)
A wonderful first novel. Please write the next, Clare Stevens. I’m waiting!
July 31, 2019
I'd been saving this book for my summer holiday but just 'dipped in' for a couple of chapters and became hooked. It's quite hard to categorise - contemporary fiction with elements of the supernatural, a mysterious death to solve and a past from which to heal and recover.
Amy Blue is traumatised by recent events and is living alone, friendless and medically tranquillised in a dank Manchester attic. She is persuaded by the mysterious Jay to travel to the Welsh coast and seek a live-in job helping out on an isolated organic farm. There, she is accepted and begins to heal herself much as her presence helps restore and mend the fractured host family, with surprising and unexpected results.
This book has many strengths, particularly the characterisation which makes everyone feel so real and alive, but also the strong sense of place - again so vividly drawn that the reader can see, smell and hear every location. There are also moments of danger, humour, pathos and poignancy. And I loved the ending - it introduced a little bit of ambiguity which had me mulling things over.
Highly recommended - it's hard to believe this is a first novel!
Amy Blue is traumatised by recent events and is living alone, friendless and medically tranquillised in a dank Manchester attic. She is persuaded by the mysterious Jay to travel to the Welsh coast and seek a live-in job helping out on an isolated organic farm. There, she is accepted and begins to heal herself much as her presence helps restore and mend the fractured host family, with surprising and unexpected results.
This book has many strengths, particularly the characterisation which makes everyone feel so real and alive, but also the strong sense of place - again so vividly drawn that the reader can see, smell and hear every location. There are also moments of danger, humour, pathos and poignancy. And I loved the ending - it introduced a little bit of ambiguity which had me mulling things over.
Highly recommended - it's hard to believe this is a first novel!
October 15, 2019
A real page turner! The characters were interesting, real, sometimes quirky but never dull or boring. The range of topics covered was staggering ranging across drug dependency, domestic violence/coercive control, grief, loss, mental health, cancer to name a few! It could have been too much but the author covers each with in depth knowledge and sincerity, leaving you with a greater sense of understanding how cumulative issues can become.
We loved the mixture of city dwelling; Nottingham being our home town; with the complete contrast of a rural idyll when Amy moves to Wales.
This was a beautiful story with a strong beginning, middle and satisfying end. We would so love to hear more about some of the interesting characters touched upon throughout the story; the lady that continually walked the countryside with her four children; the gentleman who lived in the farm fields in a tent and just suddenly packed up and left; the spooky dead sister who seemed almost evil, found jumping up and down on the disused trampoline...........
A great debut novel and we cannot wait to read more from Clare Stevens
We loved the mixture of city dwelling; Nottingham being our home town; with the complete contrast of a rural idyll when Amy moves to Wales.
This was a beautiful story with a strong beginning, middle and satisfying end. We would so love to hear more about some of the interesting characters touched upon throughout the story; the lady that continually walked the countryside with her four children; the gentleman who lived in the farm fields in a tent and just suddenly packed up and left; the spooky dead sister who seemed almost evil, found jumping up and down on the disused trampoline...........
A great debut novel and we cannot wait to read more from Clare Stevens
September 16, 2019
A beautifully written, very emotional tale of a woman regaining her independence. Amy’s growth throughout the novel is very well written, she goes from a passive observer in her own life to a woman with agency and the strength to put her foot down and make her own choices.
From the synopsis, I expected the mystery to appear slightly sooner but I have no complaints at how the story evolved. The first half is devoted to Amy’s growth, and the second to the mystery in Wales.
Overall I really enjoyed this book, it made me cry at some points (mostly in the first half) and by the end I was really rooting for Amy.
From the synopsis, I expected the mystery to appear slightly sooner but I have no complaints at how the story evolved. The first half is devoted to Amy’s growth, and the second to the mystery in Wales.
Overall I really enjoyed this book, it made me cry at some points (mostly in the first half) and by the end I was really rooting for Amy.
April 27, 2020
Loved this book.
When I started reading the book I did wonder where it was going and thought she must get out of her fog. It never occurred to me it was through a ghost. There was no way I could put this book down until I had finished. Thank goodness (in a very odd sort of way) I was at home because of Covid-19 lockdown.
It was a bit predictable that she was to end up with Adam once she had met him, but so what. It did cross my mind about Lionel, he did seem a bit of a d..k, the clues were there.
Strongly recommend anyone to read it.
When I started reading the book I did wonder where it was going and thought she must get out of her fog. It never occurred to me it was through a ghost. There was no way I could put this book down until I had finished. Thank goodness (in a very odd sort of way) I was at home because of Covid-19 lockdown.
It was a bit predictable that she was to end up with Adam once she had met him, but so what. It did cross my mind about Lionel, he did seem a bit of a d..k, the clues were there.
Strongly recommend anyone to read it.
April 17, 2019
A book you pick up to read for 5 minutes and then an hour passes and you still want to read more. I was immediately drawn into the main character Amy and enjoyed all the twists and turns along her journey. It had the right balance of information to enable me to create the characters and places in my own imagination too. The short chapters were a bonus and kept things moving at a good pace. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend to others.
October 22, 2019
Perhaps I haven't read widely enough, but this was the first contemporary British novel I've read which uses magic realism, and to telling effect. Can a young woman in difficulty really escape her dire circumstances? Can we find solace in landscape if we can't resolve our issues? A remarkably light read carrying some really heavy questions. A very rewarding book.
February 19, 2020
I started reading this in the airport and when we’d landed I was half-way through already. Engrossing read. I was intrigued by Amy’s experiences which followed her to Wales. The story really pulled me in, and I wanted to know what happened – the sign of a good book, well written. Loved it.
I look forward to reading more from this author.
I look forward to reading more from this author.
June 1, 2020
This isn't something I would normally pick up at a bookshop but it was our work book club read and I'm glad I read it. It's a well written and easy to read novel. The blurb at the back is a little misleading. It was lovely to meet the author too who kindly joined us for our book club chat over zoom.
I'd recommend it if you're after an easy to read book during lockdown.
I'd recommend it if you're after an easy to read book during lockdown.
January 8, 2026
I've really enjoyed it!!!
I liked the ghost aspect as casted doubt on if the narrator was to be trusted or not! Also the way they described North Wales was so beautiful!!!! You can tell the author has spent a little time in North Wales to describe certain places. Also notts haha, as a Nottingham resident you can see exactly where she is in the city.
I liked the ghost aspect as casted doubt on if the narrator was to be trusted or not! Also the way they described North Wales was so beautiful!!!! You can tell the author has spent a little time in North Wales to describe certain places. Also notts haha, as a Nottingham resident you can see exactly where she is in the city.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 20, 2019
This book grabbed me from the first chapter; who was she, what was her background and what led her to where she was. I didn't know any of this in the beginning but I couldn't wait to find out.
A great book from start to finish. Loved it
A great book from start to finish. Loved it
July 13, 2019
Blue tide rising is well written and an easy book to read. I am not a quick reader but I found this book very entertaining and stimulating and a thoroughly good read. The characters come to life as do the locations and the plot is fast moving. Great book I highly recommend it.
February 13, 2021
This was such an engaging read! I love the protagonist’s journey and how she overcomes the ghosts of her past alongside helping, and being helped by, real ghosts. The author has covered some difficult topics and takes you on a journey to self-empowerment.
November 2, 2021
I enjoyed this novel. The characters are believable and sympathetically drawn and the plot is well thought out. Some of the themes are quite serious but they're handled with a light touch.
March 9, 2022
Best book I've read in years. Well written, brilliant characters, plot, everything. Loved every second of it.
March 11, 2022
Refreshing take on healing and self discovery.
Some of the imagery was lovely, and the plot was interesting - but weirdly written at times.
Some of the imagery was lovely, and the plot was interesting - but weirdly written at times.
December 3, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. The story is an easy read but it captivated me.
April 2, 2020
Fabulous. A must read!
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews